This blog features my weekly column called "What's up in the sky". It is published every Saturday in the Ellensburg newspaper, Daily Record (http://www.kvnews.com/). While my postings will be most accurate for Central Washington, readers throughout the northern USA may find something of use.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Saturday: If
you want to show your loved ones a celestial sign that they should hang up
their clothes, show them Brocchi's Cluster, commonly known as the Coat Hanger
cluster because of its resemblance to an upside down coat hanger. The cluster
is six fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at
10:30 p.m., midway between Altair and Vega, the two brightest stars in the
Summer Triangle. You'll need binoculars to make out the shape. First find
Altair four fists above the southeast horizon. Slowly move your binoculars up
toward Vega. You will run into the coat hanger along the way. And while you are
at it, put away your shoes.

Sunday:
Altair, at one corner of the Summer Triangle, is four fists above the southeast
horizon at 11 p.m. Altair is one of the closest bright stars, so close that
fictional astronauts visited a planet orbiting Altair in the 1956 movie
“Forbidden Planet”.

Monday: At
9:30 p.m., Mars is one and a half fists above due southwest. Saturn is a fist
and a half to the upper left of Mars and more than two fists above the
south-southwest horizon.

Tuesday: The
Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks tonight and early tomorrow morning with
a higher than normal concentration of meteors being visible throughout the next
week. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors
appear to originate. “Hi de hi de hi de hi”, these meteors appear to come from
a point in Aquarius near the star Delta Aquarii, also known as Skat. “Ho de ho
de ho de ho”, this point is about one and a half fists above the southeast
horizon at 1 am tomorrow morning. (The well-known scat singer Cab Calloway must
have had an interest in this star.) You can follow this point throughout the
night, as it will remain a fist above Fomalhaut, the brightest star in that
section of the sky. The best
time to view the shower is after midnight between moonset and dawn. The next
two weeks will bring excellent meteor watching conditions because the moon will
be below the horizon during the prime viewing times after midnight. For more
information about this year’s shower, go to http://goo.gl/Uoxvda. As you
Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum
enjoyment. Meteors are tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the
atmosphere.

Wednesday:
Do you want an easy way to find due north? A compass points to magnetic north,
which is a few degrees off of true geographic north. Well, tonight’s your
night. Capella, the brightest star in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer,
is due north at exactly 10:03 p.m. It looks like a bright light on a pole on
the north ridge because is only about one degree above the horizon.

Thursday: Venus
is one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 5 a.m.

Friday: In
Scotland, August 1 was known as Lammas, the festival of the first wheat harvest
of the year. You can remember this by looking at Spica, named after the Latin
word for “ear of wheat”, one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the
west-southwest horizon at 9:30 p.m. August 1 is known as a cross-quarter day, a
day approximately half way between an equinox and a solstice.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Saturday: Do
you ever wonder who comes up with the official names for objects in the Solar
System? Names such as Sedna, Haumea, and Makemake? The International
Astronomical Union (IAU) does. What about all of those planets that have been
discovered orbiting other stars? The IAU will name those as well… but with your
help. They are starting a contest at http://nameexoworlds.org/ in which
individuals and clubs can propose names for a limited number of objects. The
number of objects on the list depends on how many individuals and clubs are
interested. So go to http://nameexoworlds.org/#planets, look at
the big list of planets, and start to feel at inspiration.

Sunday: Take
a two and a half hour walk. Too long, you say? Forty-five years ago today, Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took the first ever walk by humans on another world.
They spend two and a half hours setting up scientific instruments and
collecting rocks for study back on Earth. Michael Collins orbited the Moon in
the spacecraft the astronauts would use to return to Earth.

Monday: Mars
is the reddish object exactly two fists held upright and at arm’s length above
the southwest horizon and Saturn is the orangeish object two fists to the left
of it. Speaking of –ish, the star Spica is the bluish less than a half a fist
to the lower right of Mars.

Tuesday: Hot
enough for you? If not, astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space telescope think
they have discovered a molten planet orbiting a star almost right next door on
an astronomical scale – only 33 light years away. This planet is about
two-thirds the diameter of Earth and is VERY close to its parent star – about
2% of the Earth-Sun distance. The star, GJ 436, is a dim red dwarf star. For
more information about this discovery, read the NASA press release at http://goo.gl/9nY8w.

Wednesday:
The Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks for the next few weeks with the
greatest concentration of meteors being visible next week. Meteor showers are
named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. These
meteors appear to come from a point in Aquarius near the star Delta Aquarii,
also known as Skat. This point is about one and a half fists held upright and
at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 1 am tonight. You can follow
this point throughout the night, as it will remain a fist above Fomalhaut, the
brightest star in that section of the sky. The
best time to view the shower is after midnight between moonset and dawn. The
next two weeks will bring excellent meteor watching conditions because the moon
will be below the horizon during the prime viewing times after midnight. For
more information about this year’s shower, go to http://goo.gl/Uoxvda. As you
Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum
enjoyment. Meteors are tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the
atmosphere.

Thursday: Venus,
Mercury, and the waning crescent moon are crowded low in the northeastern sky
this morning. At 4:30 a.m., the moon is a half a fist above the east-northeast
horizon and Venus is a half a fist to the upper left of the moon. Mercury will
be a challenge to find, one fist to the lower left of Venus.

Friday: Now
that Pluto’s two newest moons have been named Kerberos and Styx, the dwarf
planet system is probably going to release a Styx tribute album featuring these
songs. Blue Color Plan(et): “I’ll take those long nights, impossible
cold, keeping my eye for the spacecraft. If it takes nine years to show me in
the cam. Well, I’m gonna be a blue color plan(et)”. Too Much Time on my Hands:
“Is it any wonder I take two-fifty years? Is it any wonder I’m made of hail? Is
it any wonder I’ve got too much time on my hands”. The New Horizons spacecraft,
on a nine year journey to reach Pluto in 2015, even has a contribution to the
album: “Babe, I’m leaving, I must be on my way. Pluto is drawing near.” You
can’t see Pluto with binoculars or even a small telescope. But you can read
about the New Horizons spacecraft, which is less than a year out from Pluto. Go
to http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/
for more information.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Saturday: Today’s
full moon isn’t a normal full moon. It’s a supermoon. Since the moon’s orbit
around the Earth is elliptical, it is not always the same distance away from
the Earth. When it is closer to the Earth, the moon looks larger than when it
is farther away. One popular definition of a supermoon is a new or full which
occurs when the moon is at or near its closest approach to the Earth for a
given orbit. Also a supermoon has an alter ego that people don’t recognize
despite being the same size, having the same voice, and never being in the same
place at the same time as its super hero version. Read more about the supermoon
and the radioactive spider that bit it at http://goo.gl/NQaWDl.

Sunday: Would
you like to take the small finger test? First, find Mars and Spica at 10 p.m.,
two fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southwest horizon. Mars is
the redder and brighter of the two. If you can fit your finger between Mars and
Spica, you pass the test. They’ll be moving apart over the next few nights so
keep taking the test until you pass.

Monday: Mercury
is near Venus in the morning sky for the next few days. Look for Mercury to
move toward Venus until Wednesday morning when they’ll be about a half a fist
apart, low in the east-northeast sky at 4:30 a.m.

Tuesday: Being
in a coma is a bad thing. Looking at the Coma Star Cluster is a good thing. The
Coma Star Cluster is an open cluster of about 50 stars that takes up more space
in the sky than 10 full Moons. It looks like a fuzzy patch with the naked eye.
Binoculars reveal dozens of sparkling stars. A telescope actually diminishes
from the spectacle because the cluster is so big and the telescope’s field of
view is so small. The Coma Star Cluster is in the faint constellation Coma
Berenices (ba-ron-ice’-ez) or Queen Berenice’s hair. Queen Berenice of Egypt
cut off her beautiful hair as a sacrifice to the gods for the safe return of
her husband Ptolemy III from battle. The Coma Star Cluster is about three fists
above the west horizon at 11:00 p.m.

Wednesday:
The long summer days remind us to take some time to safely observe the Sun. The
best way to do that is to go to http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ and watch
the great images and videos that come from the Solar Dynamics Observer, or SDO
for short. We are just moving away from a sunspot maximum so the Sun has been
very active lately. So what, you say? Sunspots and associated phenomena greatly
influence the strength of solar flares. The strongest flares can affect
satellites orbiting the Earth and even electronics on the Earth’s surface.

Thursday: Say
"Cheese". 164 years ago today, Vega, in the constellation Lyra the
lyre, became the first star ever photographed. The photograph was done at the
Harvard Observatory using the daguerreotype process. Vega is the third
brightest nighttime star we can see in Ellensburg, behind Sirius and Arcturus.
Vega is nearly straight overhead at 11:00 tonight.

Friday: Saturn
is about two and a half fists above the south-southwest horizon at 10 p.m.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Saturday: At
10 p.m., the bright star Regulus is a little less than one fist held upright
and at arm’s length above the west horizon. But, who is this Regulus? He has many
potential identities. The most interesting from a pop culture standpoint is
Regulus Black, the brother of Sirius Black who is Harry Potter’s godfather.
Regulus Black was a former follower of Voldemort, the bad guy of the Harry
Potter series. However, Regulus tried to dissociate himself from Voldemort and
was killed. He would be in the pile of forgotten Harry Potter characters except
that he is so interesting. Also, in the sixth book, Harry found an important
note written by someone known only by the initials R.A.B. Hmmm. R.A.B. Regulus
A. Black perhaps? Summer is a great time to read the books. Just seeing the
movies is not good enough.

Sunday: But
what does the “A” stand for? Anthony? Abercrombie? Alfonzo? Not astronomical
enough. It stands for Arcturus, the second brightest star visible in the
nighttime sky in Washington and at Hogwarts. Arcturus is five fists above the
southwest horizon at 10 p.m. The bright star Spica and Mars are halfway between
Arcturus and the southwest horizon and about a fist from each other. Mars is
the brighter object on the upper right within the pair. Saturn is in the
neighborhood, about the same distance to the left of the moon as Spica and Mars
are to the right.

Monday:
Bellatrix Lestrange is Sirius Black’s cousin. But, far from being kissing
cousins. They are killing cousins. Bellatrix kills Sirius in a fight at the
Ministry of Magic. Bellatrix the star is the third brightest star in the
constellation Orion the hunter. She’s hiding in the glow of the Sun right now.
We’ll look for her next month.

Tuesday: Of
course, Bellatrix is in cahoots with “he who must not be named”. Now, that’s a
poor sentence, using an obscure synonym for “conspiring” and a non-specific
reference. I must be under the curse “writicus dreadfulium”. Clearly this is
the work of Tom Riddle, whose mother is named Merope Gaunt. Merope is a star in
the Pleiades, an open star cluster about two fists above the east-northeast
horizon at 4 a.m.

Wednesday:
Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter’s young nemesis, is related to Sirius Black. Draco’s
mother, Narcissa Black (Sirius’ cousin), helped develop a plan to trap Harry at
the Ministry of Magic in the fifth book. Draco’s namesake, the constellation
Draco the dragon is one of the largest constellations in the sky, winding
around the North Star. Draco’s head is a four-sided figure nearly straight
overhead at 11 p.m.

Thursday: Fred
and George Weasley are the best-known twins in the Harry Potter universe. Venus
is sometimes called Earth’s twin. After all, both have a surface temperature of
about 860 degrees Fahrenheit, both have thick clouds of sulfur dioxide, both
have a chest crushing atmospheric pressure, both have…. Wait. Earth doesn’t
have any of those. How can they be “twins”? Venus is called Earth’s twin
because they have about the same mass, radius, gravitational pull, and are
similar distances to the Sun. Venus is a fist above the east-northeast horizon
at 4:30 a.m. If you have the observational skills of a wizard (or a pair of
binoculars), you may be able to spot Mercury a half a fist to the lower left of
Venus. If Venus is in the upper right hand portion of your binocular field of
view, Mercury will be in the lower left portion.

Friday:
Not every woman in the Black family is evil. Let’s focus on the good. Andromeda
Black, Bellatrix’s sister, is a good witch and the mother of Tonks, a young
witch from the last few Harry Potter books. (If these Harry Potter references
are confusing, talk to an adolescent about them.) Andromeda the constellation
is an interesting one. It contains the Andromeda galaxy, the most distant
object visible with the naked eye from a dark site. To locate the Andromeda
Galaxy, first find the Great Square of Pegasus. At 11:00 p.m., the left hand
corner of the square is about one and a half fists above the east-northeast
horizon. Less than two fists to the left and down a little bit is another star
the same brightness as the star at the corner of the square. From that star,
hop about a half a fist up to a star that is about one fourth as bright. Less
than another half fist in the same direction is a fuzzy oval patch of light
known as the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy is impressive to see in binoculars.
It consists of about 400 billion stars and is 2.2 million light years away.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.